“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4–9)

I Won’t Do That: Will I Love God with Undivided Devotion?

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

In the book of Numbers, God’s people rejected God’s plan for them to take the Promised Land and ended up wandering the wilderness for forty years as a consequence of their faithlessness. Now, Moses speaks to a new generation of Israelites on the Moabite Plains as they prepare to enter Canaan. Moses would not enter the land of promise with them, but God had not abandoned them. In response to God’s unique, loving character, it was of utmost importance that they respond to God in wholehearted, loving obedience with every thought and action, every part of themselves. Such undivided, loving devotion was to season their thoughts and conversations in their homes and as they traveled, when they went to bed, and when they got up in the morning to take on a new day.

That call to love God with undivided devotion rings through the ages and echoes among us. Are we obedient to God in how we think, speak, and act? Is loving the one true God the primary focus of our lives? Are we actively living in such a way that we might pass this loving devotion for God onto our children and grandchildren, our friends and neighbors, and whoever else God might place in our path? Read through this passage again as you answer those questions thoughtfully and recommit yourselves to fulfill this basic command.